EDC 102 F08 Fnl Proj Eval Ariana S Research Question: How do interscholastic sports benefit a student's overall health, individual school performance, and school drop out rate? Contributed by: Ariana Stanton
CQ Researcher Report:
In the article plainly named, "High School Sports," many aspects of high school sport programs are discussed. Such aspects include average numbers of sports offered at public and private schools, injury rates, drug use policies, and cost per sport. Although many of these subtopics did not match the information I was looking for in order to answer my research question, one subtopic entitled, "When Times are Tough, It's Pay or Don't Play," fit perfectly into my hands. This section of the article was about how schools look to cut or reduce the number of interscholastic sports in order to save funds for other things within the school. While clearly the athletes are left heartbroken by this immediate derision by school committees, other people left upset are those within the community as well as coaches. In further exploration of this article, Tim Stevens from high school sports editor for The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. explains how the cutbacks of school sports is unjust when speaking in concerns of saving money. He explains that besides the costs of maintaining fields, courts, and rinks, the school itself pays little money for the rest of the bills for sports such as uniforms, buses, and referees; the majority of the funds for these aspects of the sports come from fundraisers held by the team members. If the schools choose not to cut sports in order to save money, however, some have been using a policy called "pay to play," which requires each player to pay a fee to participate in the given activity. Prices of sports vary depending on where this policy is being implemented, but prices range anywhere from $30 to $600 per activity; that's an average of about $300 per sport. People like Morgan Wootten, head boys basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., does not think this policy is fair. He argues that students should not have to pay such high prices for an activity affiliated with their school. Later on within the article it explains how dropout rates within schools that are utilizing the "pay to play" policy are being watch because it is estimated they will sky rocket once students realize some cannot afford to play their favorite sport.
I like this article very much because it shows how some schools are unnecessarily cutting sports and claiming that it will save the school money. I believe that schools should work harder to find something they can cut from the budget that will be worthwhile instead of taking away some student's only reason for staying in school. I also like how this article shines light on the "pay to play" policy that is occurring in many districts around the United States. Just like Morgan Wootten, I disagree with this policy, especially for those students attending a public school. Students should not have to pay such ridiculous fees in order to participate in a school sport. This policy, although allowing slight accommodations for those students who cannot afford the fees, should at very least be reworked in order to lower the hundreds of dollars it costs to play one sport.
In her article, "Parents Should Play a Role In Fighting Childhood Obesity," Andrea C. Nakaya addresses many issues that she feels contributes to the obesity rate among the children within America. She first explains how obesity is not caused by genetics but rather influenced by the environment in which the child is exposed to; in other words, a child's weight depends mostly on the foods they are exposed to, activities they are encouraged to participate in, and overall involvement of his/her parents. Statistics provided in the article inform the reader that the obesity rate among children alone in the United States has doubled over the last 20 years to affecting 10 millions children; one out of five children are either over weight or obese. Nakaya believes that parents should set good examples for their children by eating healthy and getting regular exercise as a family verses focusing only on individual heath. This is not the only way to promote good health among children, however. Nakaya devotes large portions of her article to health care of the child while in the womb, during infancy, toddler to early childhood years, and teenage years. Some advice she offers to parents is to not smoke during a pregnancy or around the child once born, take appropriate vitamins to ensure the health of the baby at birth, expose the child to healthy fruits and vegetables, regular exercise, and be in control of the portions a child is given at each meal. Besides these basic facts to obtain and maintain a child's healthy weight, Nakaya says it is important to find reasons to praise a child for healthy choices they make on their own. She believes that a child's behavior pastern is heavily influenced by the feedback they receive from their role models. A major issue Nakaya has with obesity among children is that they are being allowed to take in more calories then they are expending each day. She believes that parents should encourage their children to be involved in activities such as the sport offered at their school and offer to be there for them whenever they need a ride to and from practices and games. The article further explains how if a child gets regular exercise such as that from participating in a school sport, the child is more apt to feel good about themselves, build character, make friends, succeed in school, and keep up a healthy lifestyle throughout their life.
I found this editorial interesting because it demonstrates the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles among America's youth and how athletics can aid in the process. By presenting the facts and statistics on obesity rates that lead to heath problems, Nakaya demonstrates her knowledge of the issue of obesity instead of just presenting her case and opinion as a useless rant. I also like how she expresses her confidence in school athletics as promoting positive life choices by students that will most likely stick with them throughout their life. Nakaya also explains how children who are involved in school sports build a positive character for themselves, make friends, and succeed in school due to their confidence and motivation. "Parents Should Play a Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity."Opposing Viewpoints: Obesity. Andrea C. Nakaya. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Providence Public Library. 21 Nov. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010380231&source=gale&userGroupName=ripl1&version=1.0>
Scholarly Journal:
In the article, "Adolescens' Physical Activity in Relation to Family Income and Partents' Education," authors Marko T. Kantomaa, Tuija H. Tammelin, Simo Näyhä, Anja M. Taanila describe an experiment they conducted regarding the rate of activity of a child depending upon their parents' education and family income. The article begins by explaining the physical, mental, and social health benefits gained from physical activity. The authors first state the common knowledge of the physical benefits gained from physical activity such as low blood pressure, a healthy and efficient cardio-vascular system, low percentage of body fat, and many more. All of these health benefits lower a person's risk of disease at any point during their life. Also, regular physical activity lowers stress levels in people causing them to feel relaxed and comfortable in their own skin. This benefit results in a healthy mental state that promotes happiness. The authors of this article also explain the social benefits of physical activity. Exercising with a partner, as explained, can motivate people to exercise on a frequent basis and lead to the physical and mental benefits as previously described. Also explained is that exercising either in gyms or on sports teams can create long term friendships that make for a healthy and needed social life. After establishing this basic understanding of the benefits of physical activity, the article explains how the experiment was conducted. The study used 5457 boys and girls aged 15–16 years and their parents. The parents role in the experiment included a response to a postal inquiry in 2001–2002, which gave basic information about their education and average family income. Other parts of the questionnaire included those that asked how many hours a day and/or week their children spend in physical activity. After analyzing the data provided by the surveys, scientists concluded that higher educated parents who were making more money than those parents uneducated had children more involved in physical activities. This could either be because the parents had the assets to involve their children in outside of school activities that cost money or because they were more in tune with the importance of physical health. The last part of the article focuses on the authors' conclusions that, "Economic support for youth sports and informing parents on ways to encourage adolescents' physical activity are recommended to ensure equal opportunities for youths to participate in different physical activities." In other terms, knowledge and availability of physical activities need to be stressed to all parents and children in order to ensure lifelong health.
This article was most intriguing to me because it linked parent education and financial situation to the rate of physical activity of their children. This helps my research question by reinforcing the importance of having interscholastic sports in schools so that a child can have a better opportunity to obtain physical, mental and social health. The scientists who conducted this experiment proved that something needs to be done about helping all children have the same knowledge and opportunities when it comes to being exposed to physical activity and lifelong health. One way to accomplish this is to make sports available to all students within schools. If school sports are cut and students are left on their own to get physical activity then mostly only those students with educated parents with a financially secure home will be getting all the benefits they need. **Adolescents' physical activity in relation to family income and parents' education.** Marko T. Kantomaa, Tuija H. Tammelin, Simo Näyhä, Anja M. Taanila. Preventive Medicine, Volume 44, Issue 5, May 2007, Pages 410-415
Newsweek:
In this article, Leon Botstein describes the growing concern many schools around the country are expressing about questioning how well of an education students are receiving. He begins his article by describing how schools should change in order to make secondary education meaningful. The plan Botstein presents suggests that schools should expose adolescence to the more intellectual demands that adults encounter on a daily basis; the students' work should consist of original thoughts and ideas instead of just imitative regurgitation, primary materials, not standardized textbooks, should be utilized within the classroom, and students should be taught by passionate experts willing to use current issues to teach their students. Botstein reports that one factor being looked into concerning what students are and are not learning is if they have developed leadership skills. Common results found from such observations have been that those students involved in school sports teams have demonstrated stronger leadership skills than those students just investing time in schoolwork. These high school athletes were found to be more concerned with engaging all students in class discussions rather than being concerned with solely themselves.
Leon Botstein calls attention to an extremely interesting and important factor concerning high school sports and classroom achievement, which I found most interesting out of all my articles. Botstein writes reflecting upon the leadership skills needed in students to further their academic success. He shows that those students not involved with interscholastic sports lack leadership skills needed to lead class discussions, help other students, and work cooperatively within group activities. This stress upon the importance of leadership skills obtained from athletic involvement proves that high school sports are an essential element to a successful school. Although all students will not participate in interscholastic sports at their schools, those who do benefit from everything learned not only about their activity, but also from what can be gained by taking control in the classroom environment.
Botstein, L. (2008, August 9). A Second-Rate Secondary Education . Newsweek, (2008). Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http://www.newsweek.com/id/151699.
Article:
This article entitled "Massive budget cuts hammer high school athletics," unlike the other four articles used to answer my research question, author Ben Volin explains why the cutting backof high school sports, although being unfair and disadvantageous, is necessary in such bad economics times like the present. He stresses how schools are forced to cut back the number of games a sport plays each season and restricts the distance of how far a team can travel due to the skyrocketing gas prices. If just making cuts such as the later do not do enough for the school's budget, schools find themselves cutting back sports that have high maintenance fees. The main sports being cut due to high maintenance include swimming, golf, and gymnastics. Despite feeling it necessary to make such cuts, Volin does not want this to be happening. He explains how athletic directors all over the country are having difficult times announcing their decisions because they are afraid of student and parent reaction. The main concern athletic directors have about students is that they will loose interest in school if their main interest is no longer offered. He also makes note that in some schools and areas, high school athletics are the only reason why some students attend school. These students, Volin explains, are depending on athletic scholarships to be accepted into college and hopefully change their lives around. So, without high school athletics, a main concern is an unwanted and unfortunate spike in high school drop out rates.
I like this article because it takes an alternate view than the other articles upon the issue of cut backs of high school sports. Although agreeing with the four other articles about seeing the need for athletics within high schools, Ben Volin reports that athletic directors and school boards regret having to make the call of which sports to cut. I also learned a lot from this article because now I am aware of how much cutting back some athletics can help a school's budget.
Research Question: How do interscholastic sports benefit a student's overall health, individual school performance, and school drop out rate?
Contributed by: Ariana Stanton
CQ Researcher Report:
In the article plainly named, "High School Sports," many aspects of high school sport programs are discussed. Such aspects include average numbers of sports offered at public and private schools, injury rates, drug use policies, and cost per sport. Although many of these subtopics did not match the information I was looking for in order to answer my research question, one subtopic entitled, "When Times are Tough, It's Pay or Don't Play," fit perfectly into my hands. This section of the article was about how schools look to cut or reduce the number of interscholastic sports in order to save funds for other things within the school. While clearly the athletes are left heartbroken by this immediate derision by school committees, other people left upset are those within the community as well as coaches. In further exploration of this article, Tim Stevens from high school sports editor for The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. explains how the cutbacks of school sports is unjust when speaking in concerns of saving money. He explains that besides the costs of maintaining fields, courts, and rinks, the school itself pays little money for the rest of the bills for sports such as uniforms, buses, and referees; the majority of the funds for these aspects of the sports come from fundraisers held by the team members. If the schools choose not to cut sports in order to save money, however, some have been using a policy called "pay to play," which requires each player to pay a fee to participate in the given activity. Prices of sports vary depending on where this policy is being implemented, but prices range anywhere from $30 to $600 per activity; that's an average of about $300 per sport. People like Morgan Wootten, head boys basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., does not think this policy is fair. He argues that students should not have to pay such high prices for an activity affiliated with their school. Later on within the article it explains how dropout rates within schools that are utilizing the "pay to play" policy are being watch because it is estimated they will sky rocket once students realize some cannot afford to play their favorite sport.
I like this article very much because it shows how some schools are unnecessarily cutting sports and claiming that it will save the school money. I believe that schools should work harder to find something they can cut from the budget that will be worthwhile instead of taking away some student's only reason for staying in school. I also like how this article shines light on the "pay to play" policy that is occurring in many districts around the United States. Just like Morgan Wootten, I disagree with this policy, especially for those students attending a public school. Students should not have to pay such ridiculous fees in order to participate in a school sport. This policy, although allowing slight accommodations for those students who cannot afford the fees, should at very least be reworked in order to lower the hundreds of dollars it costs to play one sport.
The CQ Researcher • September 22, 1995 • Volume 5, Number 35
© 2008, CQ Press, A Division of SAGE Publications.
Editorial:
In her article, "Parents Should Play a Role In Fighting Childhood Obesity," Andrea C. Nakaya addresses many issues that she feels contributes to the obesity rate among the children within America. She first explains how obesity is not caused by genetics but rather influenced by the environment in which the child is exposed to; in other words, a child's weight depends mostly on the foods they are exposed to, activities they are encouraged to participate in, and overall involvement of his/her parents. Statistics provided in the article inform the reader that the obesity rate among children alone in the United States has doubled over the last 20 years to affecting 10 millions children; one out of five children are either over weight or obese. Nakaya believes that parents should set good examples for their children by eating healthy and getting regular exercise as a family verses focusing only on individual heath. This is not the only way to promote good health among children, however. Nakaya devotes large portions of her article to health care of the child while in the womb, during infancy, toddler to early childhood years, and teenage years. Some advice she offers to parents is to not smoke during a pregnancy or around the child once born, take appropriate vitamins to ensure the health of the baby at birth, expose the child to healthy fruits and vegetables, regular exercise, and be in control of the portions a child is given at each meal. Besides these basic facts to obtain and maintain a child's healthy weight, Nakaya says it is important to find reasons to praise a child for healthy choices they make on their own. She believes that a child's behavior pastern is heavily influenced by the feedback they receive from their role models. A major issue Nakaya has with obesity among children is that they are being allowed to take in more calories then they are expending each day. She believes that parents should encourage their children to be involved in activities such as the sport offered at their school and offer to be there for them whenever they need a ride to and from practices and games. The article further explains how if a child gets regular exercise such as that from participating in a school sport, the child is more apt to feel good about themselves, build character, make friends, succeed in school, and keep up a healthy lifestyle throughout their life.
I found this editorial interesting because it demonstrates the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles among America's youth and how athletics can aid in the process. By presenting the facts and statistics on obesity rates that lead to heath problems, Nakaya demonstrates her knowledge of the issue of obesity instead of just presenting her case and opinion as a useless rant. I also like how she expresses her confidence in school athletics as promoting positive life choices by students that will most likely stick with them throughout their life. Nakaya also explains how children who are involved in school sports build a positive character for themselves, make friends, and succeed in school due to their confidence and motivation.
"Parents Should Play a Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity."Opposing Viewpoints: Obesity. Andrea C. Nakaya. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Providence Public Library. 21 Nov. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010380231&source=gale&userGroupName=ripl1&version=1.0>
Scholarly Journal:
In the article, "Adolescens' Physical Activity in Relation to Family Income and Partents' Education," authors Marko T. Kantomaa, Tuija H. Tammelin, Simo Näyhä, Anja M. Taanila describe an experiment they conducted regarding the rate of activity of a child depending upon their parents' education and family income. The article begins by explaining the physical, mental, and social health benefits gained from physical activity. The authors first state the common knowledge of the physical benefits gained from physical activity such as low blood pressure, a healthy and efficient cardio-vascular system, low percentage of body fat, and many more. All of these health benefits lower a person's risk of disease at any point during their life. Also, regular physical activity lowers stress levels in people causing them to feel relaxed and comfortable in their own skin. This benefit results in a healthy mental state that promotes happiness. The authors of this article also explain the social benefits of physical activity. Exercising with a partner, as explained, can motivate people to exercise on a frequent basis and lead to the physical and mental benefits as previously described. Also explained is that exercising either in gyms or on sports teams can create long term friendships that make for a healthy and needed social life. After establishing this basic understanding of the benefits of physical activity, the article explains how the experiment was conducted. The study used 5457 boys and girls aged 15–16 years and their parents. The parents role in the experiment included a response to a postal inquiry in 2001–2002, which gave basic information about their education and average family income. Other parts of the questionnaire included those that asked how many hours a day and/or week their children spend in physical activity. After analyzing the data provided by the surveys, scientists concluded that higher educated parents who were making more money than those parents uneducated had children more involved in physical activities. This could either be because the parents had the assets to involve their children in outside of school activities that cost money or because they were more in tune with the importance of physical health. The last part of the article focuses on the authors' conclusions that, "Economic support for youth sports and informing parents on ways to encourage adolescents' physical activity are recommended to ensure equal opportunities for youths to participate in different physical activities." In other terms, knowledge and availability of physical activities need to be stressed to all parents and children in order to ensure lifelong health.
This article was most intriguing to me because it linked parent education and financial situation to the rate of physical activity of their children. This helps my research question by reinforcing the importance of having interscholastic sports in schools so that a child can have a better opportunity to obtain physical, mental and social health. The scientists who conducted this experiment proved that something needs to be done about helping all children have the same knowledge and opportunities when it comes to being exposed to physical activity and lifelong health. One way to accomplish this is to make sports available to all students within schools. If school sports are cut and students are left on their own to get physical activity then mostly only those students with educated parents with a financially secure home will be getting all the benefits they need.
**Adolescents' physical activity in relation to family income and parents' education.** Marko T. Kantomaa, Tuija H. Tammelin, Simo Näyhä, Anja M. Taanila. Preventive Medicine, Volume 44, Issue 5, May 2007, Pages 410-415
Newsweek:
In this article, Leon Botstein describes the growing concern many schools around the country are expressing about questioning how well of an education students are receiving. He begins his article by describing how schools should change in order to make secondary education meaningful. The plan Botstein presents suggests that schools should expose adolescence to the more intellectual demands that adults encounter on a daily basis; the students' work should consist of original thoughts and ideas instead of just imitative regurgitation, primary materials, not standardized textbooks, should be utilized within the classroom, and students should be taught by passionate experts willing to use current issues to teach their students. Botstein reports that one factor being looked into concerning what students are and are not learning is if they have developed leadership skills. Common results found from such observations have been that those students involved in school sports teams have demonstrated stronger leadership skills than those students just investing time in schoolwork. These high school athletes were found to be more concerned with engaging all students in class discussions rather than being concerned with solely themselves.
Leon Botstein calls attention to an extremely interesting and important factor concerning high school sports and classroom achievement, which I found most interesting out of all my articles. Botstein writes reflecting upon the leadership skills needed in students to further their academic success. He shows that those students not involved with interscholastic sports lack leadership skills needed to lead class discussions, help other students, and work cooperatively within group activities. This stress upon the importance of leadership skills obtained from athletic involvement proves that high school sports are an essential element to a successful school. Although all students will not participate in interscholastic sports at their schools, those who do benefit from everything learned not only about their activity, but also from what can be gained by taking control in the classroom environment.
Botstein, L. (2008, August 9). A Second-Rate Secondary Education . Newsweek, (2008). Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http://www.newsweek.com/id/151699.
Article:
This article entitled "Massive budget cuts hammer high school athletics," unlike the other four articles used to answer my research question, author Ben Volin explains why the cutting back of high school sports, although being unfair and disadvantageous, is necessary in such bad economics times like the present. He stresses how schools are forced to cut back the number of games a sport plays each season and restricts the distance of how far a team can travel due to the skyrocketing gas prices. If just making cuts such as the later do not do enough for the school's budget, schools find themselves cutting back sports that have high maintenance fees. The main sports being cut due to high maintenance include swimming, golf, and gymnastics. Despite feeling it necessary to make such cuts, Volin does not want this to be happening. He explains how athletic directors all over the country are having difficult times announcing their decisions because they are afraid of student and parent reaction. The main concern athletic directors have about students is that they will loose interest in school if their main interest is no longer offered. He also makes note that in some schools and areas, high school athletics are the only reason why some students attend school. These students, Volin explains, are depending on athletic scholarships to be accepted into college and hopefully change their lives around. So, without high school athletics, a main concern is an unwanted and unfortunate spike in high school drop out rates.
I like this article because it takes an alternate view than the other articles upon the issue of cut backs of high school sports. Although agreeing with the four other articles about seeing the need for athletics within high schools, Ben Volin reports that athletic directors and school boards regret having to make the call of which sports to cut. I also learned a lot from this article because now I am aware of how much cutting back some athletics can help a school's budget.
Volin, B. Massive budget cuts hammer high school athletics. June 30, 2008. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http://www.palmbeachpost.com/highschools/content/sports/epaper/2008/06/30/a1c_hschools_0701.html.